


Some Family Secrets

by PhoenixstarKina



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Cause Yusaku's real parents aren't just gonna steal him from Kolter and Emma, Co-Parenting, F/F, F/M, Figuring out how to parent the 17 year old, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I ain't saying who his parents are in the tags, I just don't wanna spoil it, I thought of this the first time I saw these two appear in the show, Kengo being the awesome Uncle, M/M, More tags to be added, Multi, Other, Ryoken is basically everyone's big brother, They missed a damn good plot they could've done, Y'all Vrains hecked up, Yusaku's parents are canon characters, including - Freeform, so I'm doing it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22051198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixstarKina/pseuds/PhoenixstarKina
Summary: Yusaku asks a very loaded question of Ai. "Can you try to find my parents?"Of course he can. Ignis are far superior than any authority that had tried before. But finding the answer, Ai wishes Yusaku had never asked that of him in the first place.
Relationships: Ai | Ignis/Fujiki Yuusaku, Asou | Faust/Taki Kyoko, Bessho Ema/Kusanagi Shouichi, Flame/Homura Takeru, Kusanagi Jin/Lightning, Revolver | Kougami Ryouken/Spectre
Comments: 17
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So. There’s a thought that’s been in my head since I saw a certain episode that introduced a certain character.  
> Two people in Vrains look suspiciously alike. And a third person looks pretty damn close to one of the people mentioned. And Vrains missed out on a damn good opportunity for another plot that could’ve been added to season 3 but noooo Konami’s too scared to do more good plots (not gonna lie, Season 2 plot is pretty damn good)  
> So I guess I’ll do the plot!
> 
> (And Yusaku and Ai are engaged)

Yusaku didn’t want to believe it when Ai told him there was a match to the test he asked for.

Part of him had wondered, for years, what his life was like before the Incident. Who were his parents? Were they alive? Searching still for him but somehow unable to find him? Were they gone? Had they died before the Incident? He wanted _something_ , _anything_ about a family that he had no memory of.

He and Kolter had searched before, looking for anything online that the authorities might have missed, even checking Hanoi files when they could get their hands on them. But nothing ever showed up. And Yusaku couldn’t remember anything about his time before the Incident, other than meeting Ryoken for the first time. Everything else was missing, as if the memories had been plucked right out of his mind.

He told Ai as much one day, curled up on the couch with his fiancé. It was still strange to call him that sometimes, after Ai’s extravagant (AKA: overwhelming) proposal in Link Vrains four months ago. At least he had called Yusaku ‘Playmaker’, then proposed officially (AKA: properly) at their house with just family and friends around soon after. Yusaku made no move to help Ai with the death threats and rude messages he got constantly for ‘daring to take Playmaker off the market’ afterwards, just as payback.

Seriously, using the Code Talkers to help with his proposal? A bit much for Yusaku. Using a stuffed animal, a snow leopard, to propose after dinner? Far better. Yusaku hugged the snow leopard tightly as he stared at what Ai had found.

Wedding planning had Yusaku questioning about his parents more and more. Even if he didn’t find his birth parents, he still had parents. He had Kolter, who had officially adopted him after he came back from finding Ai and the other Ignis. And soon after that, he had Emma as well, once she and Kolter began dating. Kolter had always been his shield, a father figure who made sure Yusaku was safe. It didn’t take long for Emma to fill in a motherly role either, for both him and Jin really. But Yusaku still _wondered_.

And now… he was wishing he hadn’t.

“I… I’ll run the scans again.” Ai murmured, his arms tightening around Yusaku’s waist, gripping his sides almost hard enough to bruise. “I have to run them again. Maybe we should talk to Kolter, my systems might be glitched. Or the results are. Maybe both. I could check with a simulation? Yeah, that might be best. In all the ones I saw, this _never_ happened… It has to be wrong then.” He rambled on, and Yusaku winced as their shared Sense snapped in his mind. A sign that Ai was shoving himself deeper into the network, probably searching for one of the other Ignis or a different scan or test to try.

Yusaku wasn’t focusing on that, hugging the stuffed animal even tighter. Letting the soft, fake fur ground him as he shook. He pressed his face into the animal’s head, shakily whispering. “Help…” He could tell Ai was lifting him up, taking him to their room.

Every gift Ai gave him had practical use. Even the soft things. Their bedroom was full of stuffed animals, blankets, pillows, it was almost child-like. But it was what Yusaku needed. There was no way for him to wake up and confuse their bedroom for the bright white room with nothing in it but a worthless blanket and a VR headset. It was a safe room, with a white noise machine, cream-colored walls, wide windows, and glow in the dark stickers on the ceiling.

Okay, their room was childish. But Yusaku didn’t care. It was _safe_. And everything had a purpose.

He couldn’t get hurt with so many soft things on the bed, if he woke up violently if Ai wasn’t there. The windows could be opened or covered quickly, operated manually or remotely and guarded by things only Ignis could get past. The white noise machine doubled as a monitor so even if Ai worked late- doing security for Link Vrains- he could hear Yusaku, and Yusaku could hear him. And the stuffed animals.

The Firewall Dragon was for bad depression days. If the wings were tugged, a signal went to Ai and Takeru. If Takeru was good to answer, he did immediately to brighten up the day. Yusaku did the same for him, if he got a text from Flame that Takeru needed help. General social anxiety went to the Linkuriboh plush. Squeezing it tightly texted Skye and Jin, who each had one too. It would start a group chat between the three, which typically calmed all of them down. The snow leopard was the most important one.

Squeezing it activated whatever device Ai had hidden in the stuffing, including a microphone and monitor that tracked movement and Yusaku’s heartrate. ‘Help’ sent out the alert. It went straight to Ai, Kolter’s phone, and Emma’s duel disk. It was for panic attacks, anxiety attacks, flashbacks, and anything major. He only needed it once before, and all three had responded back quickly.

That time was no exception. Ai’s attention was solely on him. “It’s alright, I’m here, it’s alright.” Ai soothed. “And Kolter’s on his way.”

Yusaku still shook, his arms trembling as he hugged the stuffed animal tighter. He felt too vulnerable, like he wasn’t safe at all _anywhere_. If what Ai found was true, how could he be? If… If his own parents were… were able to…

“He’s hyperventilating.” Yusaku felt like he was hearing Ai underwater, barely registering when he was moved to a different set of arms.

“Kiddo? Hey, come on. Come on Yusaku, that’s it.” He was moving, looking up at Kolter with wide, fearful eyes. Kolter’s shone with concern but he didn’t move away, rubbing Yusaku’s back and sitting on the floor with him. “Ai? What brought this on? Is something going on in Vrains?”

“Not… no.” Ai shook his head. “Yusaku had… he asked me if we could run a scan, using his hospital records on recent blood tests.”

“…are you two expecting?” Yusaku knew Kolter said it as a joke. Part of him, a very small part did see the amusement. Since Ai liked to joke about finding a way to combine some of his data with some of Yusaku’s consciousness to create a baby sometimes.

“No, Kolter.” Ai whispered. “Yusaku asked me to look for anyone who may be related to him.”

That made the older man pause. As much as Yusaku tried to stay silent, to just focus on breathing, he couldn’t. A sob escaped his lips before he could stop it, getting Kolter to hold him closer.

Yusaku had only cried so openly twice. Once after Kolter’s betrayal, and once after losing Ai. For him to be breaking again, Kolter knew it was bad.

“Who are they?”

* * *

“An emergency meeting for the Playmaker Faction? Including _everyone_?” Ryoken looked up from his laptop, repeating back the words Spectre had just said to him.

“That is what the message from Cal Kolter says, yes.” Spectre nodded, looking at his phone again just to make sure. “However, he is requesting that… well, we bring a few things of your father’s.”

Ryoken froze. “What does he want?”

“The files that we haven’t been able too break into. It appears the Ignis have offered to break into them. He said those files may hold important information that they _need_ to know. It is something related to Yusaku Fujiki.”

Hearing that, Ryoken pulled up the folder again. He always kept it, even if no one could get into it. A folder full of files, secrets that he was sure his father thought he had taken to the grave with him. But would they hold information on Yusaku in them? And why?

Ryoken had tried for years to open the files, finding it sealed by what he assumed were incomplete Ignis algorithms. And being incomplete, there would be no way to open it without damaging data in the folder. A failsafe, should anyone try to force their way into it, he guessed. But Ryoken had also guessed the files were just extra Ignis data, perhaps profiles on other children he was going to kidnap for the Project, or even duplicates of the first six Ignis.

He had stopped after a while, figuring that some secrets should stay secret. But to find out that Kolter knew of the folder? And that he needed it, Ryoken’s interest was caught once more by it.

“It will take a few minutes to transfer it online, can you do that Spectre? I need to make a call first.” Ryoken stood up, walking out of the room as Spectre bowed to him, taking his spot at the table.

He headed outside, pulling out his phone as he did. An emergency meeting of the entire faction, including the Knights of Hanoi? In Vrains as well, which meant it was a time-sensitive emergency, if they didn’t even have time to wait for everyone to meet up in Den City.

As he began to look for Kolter in his contacts, his phone rang. A number did not show up, but lines of code Ryoken recognized, and he answered after the second ring. “Dark Ignis.”

“Not today Ryoken.” He raised one eyebrow in surprise at how _tired_ Ai sounded. “Please? We’re on the same side. At least… I hope we are with this matter.”

“That depends… Ai. What matter are you speaking of?” Ryoken questioned, leaning against the railing of the boat. He knew it had to be something major, for the Ignis to actually call him and forgo the dramatics. “Is Yusaku alright?”

“Honesty, no.”

That had him on alert, hand gripping the railing. He could feel three pairs of eyes on him, and he motioned to his Knights to listen in on the call. “Ai, what happened? Was he attacked?”

“Not by something we can fight off.” Ai sounded more defeated, and Ryoken froze when he actually heard a sob on the other line. It hadn’t been Ai, so the Ignis had actually called him using a phone then? “I need to know something, Revolver. How much do you trust your Knights? The _doctors_ who were in charge of the Hanoi Project and Lost Incident?”

 _There_. That guarded tone, one that made Ai seem defensive, borderline _possessive_. Ryoken knew that tone. “With my life. Did Yusaku remember some detail that I was unaware of?” He felt on guard as well.

He trusted them. But trauma did have a way of warping reality. He knew things were sometimes… well, he did keep _one_ close because it was safer for everyone that way. Kept on a short leash the same way his father kept Spectre close, because it was better than letting him loose on an unsuspecting public. Ryoken calmed him down, letting that leash have more give as they grew older. But he still kept all four of his top Knights close.

Especially since it was part of their deal with SOL tech, to run security to pay back their debt to society. It wasn’t enough, not by a long shot. But it was a start for what the three had done during the Incident. Ryoken knew that Clarissa especially never saw it as enough. She fully regretted everything about the Incident, and made sure personally that the remaining children had nothing short of the best when it came to medical assistance. Pulling every string and lining every pocket needed to make sure it would happen.

“Yusaku didn’t remember anything different. It’s something I came upon when he asked me to look for something.” Ryoken heard the clicking of boots on wooden flooring, he guessed Ai was moving away from Yusaku. “Don’t worry, Kolter’s up with him, so is Roboppi, and Emma and Jin are on their way. We’re waiting on them, then we’re going into Vrains. Just log in and Windy’s going to make sure you five get to the right place.”

“All of the Ignis will be there too?”

“Yusaku is our’s.” Ai replied simply. And there was the possessiveness Ryoken knew would show up. Ever since Yusaku had brought all six back, it was like he was one of them. Even though most of them had romantic and sexual relationships with their Origins, none were as close as Yusaku. It was clear where the loyalties of the Ignis lie. “No matter what the scan said…”

“What is it that he asked you to do?” Ryoken asked Ai. “What scan?”

Ai sighed. “We were talking about the wedding. And I mentioned Kolter walking him down the aisle. And Yusaku mentioned he didn’t know… what happened to his biological parents.”

Ryoken’s phone almost slid right out of his hand. Ai didn’t need to say anymore than that. He knew what Ai was getting at, Yusaku wanted to find his biological parents, and Ai must have…

His head snapped up, looking to where Genome, Aso, and Clarissa were. Genome was frantically shaking his head. ‘We don’t know.’ He mouthed. “They don’t know who-“

“You met Yusaku before the Incident.” Ai interrupted. “Tell me, Revolver, did Yusaku mention any parents? What do _you_ remember of meeting him?”

Ryoken thought back. He did meet Yusaku, he felt sick, he had been _bait_ to lure Yusaku in. And his parents-

_“I need to ask my mom!”_

_“Ryoken, my mom is-“_

_“-my dad can-“_

His eyes widened. Yes, Yusaku had mentioned parents, but-

“I can’t remember.” His throat felt dry with horror. It was impossible. How could he not remember? He remembered _every single detail_ of that first meeting. Down to the small cut on Yusaku’s hand from falling over. But the more he tried to think on what Yusaku had said, the less he could remember of it. “How… wh-what the…”

“Ah, as I suspected.” Ai sighed, the defeated tone back. “An adult involved in the Incident… must have done some tampering with your memory code.”

“Minds aren’t data, Ai!” Ryoken snapped, sound more like Revolver as he grew defensive, wary. Memory tampering, he knew Clarissa had spoken about it before. It was possible, but she wouldn’t use it on him… would she?

No. The shock he saw in her eyes was genuine. As was the burning question that echoed in Ryoken’s own thoughts. _If his memories were tampered with, Yusaku’s as well probably, then who else was affected by it?_

“No, but they are very similar.” Ai murmured. “I always found it strange that Yusaku could remember only you from his past prior to the Incident. And what I found about… well.”

“Let’s just say that if certain people do _not_ have memories that have been tampered with… then you will have quite the choice to make, Revolver, Leader of the Hanoi. I will have demands, either you comply with them, or the war will begin again. And this time, Yusaku won’t be there to stop me.”

Ryoken was taken slightly aback by the fierce change in Ai’s attitude. Whatever the Ignis had found must have been something big then, and something related to his Knights. Did Ai suspect that they had done something to Yusaku’s parents? “Ai, if they have anything to do with Yusaku’s parents disappearing or dying, then they do not remember.” Ryoken told him. “Aso’s written down every single detail he could about the Incident and… and how each child was kidnapped. And Clarissa and Genome has been nothing but open about everything as well. If they did anything, remembered anything, I would know about it. They did help Homura fill in some gaps about his parents’ accident, after all.” He pointed out.

“…Yes, they did. Look, Emma and Jin are here. The meeting is in an hour. Let Windy guide you five to the location we’re using, it’s a part of the new Cyberse, you can’t get in without an Ignis.” Ryoken grimaced. So he was being forced to interact then. “Blood Shepherd’s already there, Earth helped him get in and we’re going to need every expert hacker we can get if we’re going to get the full truth. Even Zaizen’s going to be there.”

“What I found… To be honest, even Ai am unsure what to really do with the information. But hopefully, that file you have will tell us everything about this.” Ai said softly. “And I can make no promises that Kolter will keep his mouth shut about your father if what I’m thinking is correct.”

“For this, I’ll let it slide.” He knew his father was a bad man, but Ryoken tended to still give anyone talking bad about him a few choice looks. “In an hour then.”

“Yes. We will see you there.” Ai said before quietly hanging up.

Ryoken sighed, letting his arm fall to his side and gripping his phone tightly. Ai had uncovered something huge, something that would affect every party in relation to the faction, if he had even called in that bounty hunter. The last time anyone had gathered everyone together, it was to fight back against Ai himself.

He just hoped that they were prepared for whatever threat the Ignis had uncovered this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will reveal who Yusaku's parents are!
> 
> This is more of an experimental idea then it is a huge one, so chapters shouldn't be too big. It's going to be more of a "learning how to be a family and the awkwardness that comes with that" fic than a "here's a well-thought-out plot let's make huge ass chapters for it" fic.
> 
> I liked writing Ryoken's part for this as well, there's going to be a lot of him in this one. Especially given some things that are canon. Also for ages... yeah everyone's age is the same except maybe the older Knights/Kolter/Emma/Akira. They're probably a bit older than what canon would have them as. Kolter's 29, Emma's 27, Akira's 27, Genome and Aso are both 35, Clarissa is 34.
> 
> And quick update on all my YGO fics, I'm working on the last few Christmas prompts while writing this, I just wanted to get this written down real quick. NGoS is being worked on, Yugi's just fighting me. The Arc V fics are being worked on, Crow's just being a brat and wanting to add in a ton of shit for himself that really I'm gonna put in its own fic later.


	2. Ryoken is a POV thief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is it whenever I get the urge to update all of my fics, I have a computer die? My laptop stopped charging so I had to get a new one...
> 
> ANYWAY the chapter title is truth. For some reason he really wanted to be the main character when the secret is revealed. I don't mind that really, he's fun to write. Anyway, enjoy!

Of everything Ryoken had expected to find when Windy brought them to the meeting point, a replica of Yusaku and Ai’s place was pretty high on that list. Of everything Ryoken expected to find inside said replica, a pile of pillows and blankets with Yusaku in the middle of it being cuddled by Jin and Takeru was not one of those things on his list.

He looked to be in shock, being logged in as himself and not as Playmaker. Ryoken realized no one was logged in as their Avatars. “I disabled that.” Ai admitted, looking at them warily. “This isn’t something to be said using the avatar systems.

True to what the text had said, everyone was gathered. Gore was standing off to the side with Skye and Miyu, Akira hovering around them. Kolter and Emma were doing their own hovering, Emma sitting down so Yusaku’s head was on her lap and Kolter pacing behind the pile up in the pillows. Kengo was pacing as well, watching the Knights of Hanoi and the Ignis like a hawk.

Whatever Ai found, had them all on edge. And it was wariness that was aimed at them. But more important than their human allies acting strangely towards them were the Ignis gathered around. Ryoken couldn’t help but feel wary himself when he saw the former leader sitting so close to Yusaku. Perched on a chair next to Jin, one leg crossed over the other in his human form, Lightning looked the part of a leader. Blond hair kept out of his face with a ponytail, wearing a more military-style suit. Windy came to stand next to him, dressed down in comparison but still wearing a white dress shirt and black slacks.

Flame stood on Takeru’s side, dressed similarly to the three boys on the pillows in a school uniform. Ryoken vaguely remembered hearing that Flame and Ai had decided to try going to school with Takeru, Yusaku, and Jin. If only to keep their Origins in school. That had fallen flat, of course. Yusaku had dropped out four months ago, and Jin was homeschooled instead, leaving only Takeru, Skye, and Miyu to go to the public school. He did think the Ignis’ red hair was a bit much though. But he looked just as protective as Ai did.

The only two who seemed to be staying out of things were Aqua and Earth, who stood off to the side near Gore, Skye, and Miyu. Aqua looked much like Blue Angel, with soft blue hair and a flowing dress. Earth was dressed similarly to Gore, and cast a few hesitant glances over at Spectre.

But between all six Ignis, it was very clear to Ryoken. They were ready for any war Ai promised would happen if he didn’t find exactly what he wanted. Ryoken was instantly on edge when he realized the real reason why Ai gathered all of them. Not to support Yusaku with the shock of whatever Ai found, but as back-up if the fallout of the information was not favorable.

And Ryoken would have a heavy choice to make if that happened. He took a step forward, towards Ai, and noticed Kolter do the same, putting himself between the Knights and Yusaku the same way Ryoken put himself between the Knights and Ai.

“Boys, that’s enough.” Emma sighed. “Remember, we’re all on the same side.” _For now_ , was left unsaid. “Honestly… Ryoken, did you bring that file?”

“Of course.” Ryoken didn’t take his eyes off of Ai, holding up his hand to reveal the silver folder that was locked tightly. It floated there even as he moved his hand away. “We believe it’s locked by an incomplete Ignis program.” He didn’t flinch when Windy took the file over to Lightning.

“Now do you mind explaining what all this is about?” Ryoken questioned. “What is it that you found that has everyone ready to jump into yet another war? I thought we were past fighting within the faction.”

Ai sighed, running a hand through his hair. “That depends on what secrets your father left, Ryoken. And what your Knights know.” He said, not budging at all. “So if anyone has anything they want to say before I reveal what I found… speak now.”

“We’ve told you everything we could.” Clarissa said to Ai, walking closer to Ryoken. “You said this about Yusaku, correct? Every file we had on him, we gave to Kolter when we gave him Jin’s files. That’s all we know about him.”

Ryoken tore his gaze from Ai to look at Yusaku, growing even more curious. Was it his imagination, or had Yusaku grown even more alert when Clarissa began speaking? No, he wasn’t imagining it, Yusaku was watching her. Ryoken looked back at Clarissa. There had to be something then…

He paused, looking from Clarissa to Yusaku again, then back. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him.

“I have to wonder about that.” Ai admitted, not looking at any of the Knights but turning his attention to everyone else. “Yusaku asked me to find his parents by looking for DNA matches.” He revealed. “I have every record of every blood test Yusaku’s ever gotten. And I compared it to every other test on every human at least thirteen years older than Yusaku, including those who have already passed.”

“And… I found two matches. Male and female.”

“You found his parents?” Spectre asked, tilting his head in interest. “And that required all of us to be here? While it is good news that family was found for one of us, I fall to see how it relates to-“

“Yusaku’s parents are _here_. _In this room_.” Ai stressed, bringing Spectre to a shocked silence as everyone else seemed to explode into questions.

“How?”

“But there’s only two women here who fit that criteria!”

“What does that mean?”

“Who?”

“ _Silence_.” Kengo hissed, getting everyone to quiet down as he walked over, putting a hand on Emma’s shoulder. “Ignis, should Yusaku really be here for this?” He asked, nodding down to the quiet teen who was clinging to Emma now.

“He deserves to know the truth.” Emma whispered. “…It’s not me. I wasn’t the match.”

Ryoken’s eyes widened in shock and surprise, feeling his blood run cold. “Then that means-!” He whipped around, staring at the only other person who Ai could mean.

Clarissa Turner. One of his own Knights, a doctor and scientist from the Lost Incident. Clarissa was Yusaku’s mother. And chaos erupted in the large room.

Aso and Genome immediately pulled her back, Spectre moving to stand next to them as Takeru jumped up. Anger in his eyes and fire sparking up around him. “There’s no fucking way!” He snapped, being held back by Skye, who had moved quickly over to him.

“Takeru _wait_!” She said as Akira hurried to help her. Flame had moved behind Takeru, taking his place next to Yusaku and Emma defensively as Kengo moved to stand with Takeru.

“His _mother_ was one of the Knights of Hanoi? One of the scientists who took part in the Project?” Gore demanded, walking closer to the group with Miyu not far behind. The other Lost Child watching warily.

Ai kept his gaze on the Knights. “Not just his mother. His father too.”

Ryoken didn’t need to be a genius to realize who Ai meant. Now that he was actively looking for it, the similarities were clear. Not to mention Clarissa had always been with Aso, ever since Ryoken first met the three doctors.

“Impossible!” Aso blurted out, looking at Ai in disbelief. “There… there’s no way…”

Ryoken was thankful that at least Akira and Gore seemed to want to be neutral parties for the moment as the two brought over chairs for everyone, getting everyone seated before anyone could start a fight or faint. Ryoken looked at Clarissa again as he sat next to her, Aso on her other side with Genome as Spectre sat on Ryoken’s other side. She looked to be in shock, pale and shaking her head.

“N-no… Ai there is no possible way.” She whispered. “I-I’ve never been pregnant! And after the Incident- I made sure I couldn’t- I… it’s impossible!”

_Was it?_ Ryoken closed his eyes, taking a steadying breath. Before Takeru could speak up again, he asked, “Ai, is this why you asked me to think back to when I first met Yusaku?”

That seemed to get the other white-haired teen to pause. “You asked me if Yusaku mentioned his parents before. I said yes, but… all I remember is him saying he had to ask his mom something. If he said a name, either I didn’t catch it, or… more likely…”

“Someone tampered with your memories.” Ai nodded, still standing between the two groups.

“We think… that happened to _everyone_ directly involved in the Lost Incident.” Kolter added, putting a hand on Takeru’s shoulder to keep him still. “If Dr. Turner is telling the truth-“

“I _am_.” Clarissa stressed, her eyes wide. “Wait, y-you don’t mean…”

“If you’re telling the truth, that you never remember being pregnant… then Ai is correct. _Which means_ , no one is going to be doing any fighting.” Kolter said, squeezing Takeru’s shoulder. “None of us wanted to believe that any parent- any _other_ parent- would deliberately put their child through the Incident. But… you three _did_ willingly put seemingly random children through that.”

“No one can blame you for thinking we would do something to our own children if we had any.” Aso sounded as shocked as Clarissa looked. “But Clarissa is right… I have no memory of having any children.”

Ryoken closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. Yusaku was still silent, but he was sure the younger teen probably saw half of this as his… parents, rejecting him. “Aso, Clarissa, _enough_. You may not remember it… but why would the Dark Ignis lie about something like this? It’s obviously hurting Yusaku, something he wouldn’t do now. And the more I look at you and him, the more similarities pop up. Especially in the face. One, Clarissa, didn’t you say your mother and father both had green eyes? Two, Aso, your grandmother’s hair was the same shade of blue as Yusaku’s lighter parts. Three, Yusaku looks as soft as Clarissa does.” He listed off.

He opened his eyes, looking at Yusaku again. Curled up against Emma’s side with Jin on his other side, his hands fidgeting with his disk, _trying to log out_. Ryoken realized. But he couldn’t. He had never seen Yusaku so scared, so vulnerable.

“Now that he pointed it out…” Skye said softly. “There are a lot of similarities.”

“Run your own tests if you must.” Ai said, holding a golden sphere of data that he tossed at Ryoken. “Yusaku’s most recent blood test that includes the DNA data I used. I’m sure you can do your own tests on that boat for the other two. I’m going to allow everyone to log out, but if _anyone_ breathes a word of this outside of our group, I’ll prove memory tampering is completely possible.” He warned.

“Wait, what are you expecting to find in that file I gave you?” Ryoken asked quickly.

Ai hummed. “If I am correct, the memories that everyone seems to be missing. Not only about Yusaku, but about the kidnappings of everyone else. And so long as those two aren’t lying,” he nodded to Clarissa and Aso, “possibly any other memories your father would have removed.”

“I’ll be keeping Yusaku here for now, however.” He added. “The news affected him badly, he went into shock that nearly led to cardiac arrest because of the flashbacks.”

Ryoken felt Clarissa flinch back next to him, and felt slightly sick himself. “His body-“

“Is fine. Do you really think me an idiot? I didn’t steal all of the medical tech files you had for nothing.” Ai waved his hand dismissively. “I perfected the technology that kept that bastard’s body alive. Right now, it’s being used to make sure Yusaku is stable out there, Roboppi is monitoring him and I see no issues. After another hour, it will just be used to keep him steady while I keep his consciousness here where the worst that could happen is that he creates a Data Storm that levels part of Vrains.”

“You make that sound like no big deal.” Akira said dryly.

“Give that we can rebuild the network in two and a half seconds should that happen, it is not a big deal.” Lightning retorted, glaring at the folder in his hand as he and Windy worked to open it. “You all might as well leave. Ai’s had his dramatics for the day and I’m sure you’ll want to confirm his findings.”

“Go on ahead and run your own tests.” Windy agreed. “Go go go, the more you do, the more certainty there will be. Although we are 99.9 percent certain right now because of our own tests that compared Yusaku’s DNA to the other two and I must say he is a match. Humans are so weird with that but I guess each Ignis here would have similar coding and it’s like that? Could our coding count as DNA? I mean-”

“In other words, leave.” Lightning added. “The less people here, the better things will be.”

Ryoken rolled his eyes, expecting nothing less from the Light Ignis. He had turned reclusive after his revival, wanting very little to do with the human world outside of the network and even avoiding his Origin when he could, not that Jin allowed that much, from what Ryoken saw.

“How about we meet up at my place?” Skye offered. “After… the news has had time to settle in?”

“It will take us until tomorrow to make it back to Den City.” Ryoken murmured softly. “We’ll meet then. And we can meet at my house, or just at Stardust Road. It’s more of neutral territory for everyone.”

Skye nodded. “That’s true. Tomorrow then, at noon.”

Everyone began to log out, including his Knights after some prompting from Spectre. But Ryoken lingered. He looked at Yusaku, who seemed to not even notice the lack of people in the room. Jin was still with him, but Ai had taken Emma’s spot, keeping Yusaku’s head on his lap. Takeru had moved closer as well. Emma wasn’t too far away though, speaking Kolter and her brother.

“Go, Revolver.” Ai sighed. “There’s nothing you can do for Yusaku now. Go talk to his parents or something.”

“I just wanted to say again that I trust my Knights.” Ryoken said softly. “If they didn’t know, then they didn’t know. I’ll send them to meet the others tomorrow, but I will return to Vrains myself instead.”

“…If Yusaku agrees, then I’ll let you back in here.” Ai replied, looking at Ryoken. “For now, let him rest. After everything that’s happened over the years, I think Yusaku deserves the chance.”

* * *

It was like he was floating. At least, that’s how Yusaku wanted to feel. Floating, not dealing with anything, nothing to worry about, no one counting on him for once, the weight of the world on someone else’s shoulders. He remembered how he got to that feeling, but something blocked him from any emotional response to the last three things he remembered.

One, he knew who his parents were now. His biological parents, Aso and Clarissa Turner. Two Knights of Hanoi, two people who worked on the Hanoi Project that damaged and broke him. He wondered if he should be panicking about it. But there were arms around him and the familiar smell of hot dogs and hot chocolate. He had new parents, ones who helped saved him. He had a mother and a father, who cared about him and loved him. He even had Jin, who was like a brother to him, and Kengo was coming around to the idea of being an uncle as well.

Two, he _did_ panic. That was why he was floating now. He panicked and his chest began to hurt, Ai had been yelling, Kolter was yelling, then there was pressure on his chest? Yusaku remembered something happening. He was hooked up to some sort of machine and Ai dragged him into the network. Somewhere warm, Jin had come with them and Kolter and Emma joined them too. Ai brought him to a replica of their house, where Kengo already was. But it was odd seeing everyone in Vrains outside of the avatars. He still panicked, but it lessened with his family around. Even the other Ignis showed up and Yusaku had no choice but to calm down then. Like a switch had been flipped. Or, more likely, like Lightning had gotten into his head and blocked his emotions.

Three, everyone else knew about his biological parents now too. He vaguely remembered Takeru laying down with him and Jin, and Skye had come with Gore, Akira, and Miyu. Then Ryoken brought Spectre and the other Knights. He wasn’t sure if the other four could feel it, but having all five Lost Children in one space helped Yusaku calm down even more. All five of them were in the same space, the same space as the six Ignis. It was very calming, even with the yelling that happened around them.

But then most of the others left. Yusaku could feel Jin curled up against his back still, and Takeru’s arms around his waist. His head was on… Flame’s lap now? It had to be Flame, he was warmer than Ai. And Lightning was farther away. Yusaku was still floating.

And that was how he knew Ai did something to him. It probably said a lot about his usual mental state when a state of _nothing is wrong_ , is actually _wrong_. “I should kick you all for this, you know.”

“You should. But you won’t.” Flame commented. “You’re still… I believe the phrase is ‘high as a kite’? Ai put a numbing program into your system so you wouldn’t continue to panic your way into a heart attack. Though your panic is justified, this isn’t something any of us expected. Even Lightning.”

“I saw nothing about this when I was ripping Kogami to shreds.” Lightning commented. “Which possibly means he covered his tracks by hiding his own memories of it. We’ll find out in about… fifteen minutes, give or take.” He said, checking the progress on the file.

It was still insanely odd, having such a tame Lightning and sane Windy around. But Yusaku wasn’t going to question it. He did help put them back together after all, he knew some of the failsafe measures put into place. Similar to Pandor’s own programming, they couldn’t turn on humanity as a whole anymore unless Yusaku disabled it.

Though from Lightning’s growling, Yusaku had a feeling he would have to add on more safety measures. “I’m already not liking what I’m finding. These are memory files…”

“So I was right then.” Ai murmured, continuing to pace. “Memory files belonging to a few certain people?”

Lightning nodded. “Yes. I’m finding memories belonging to Yusaku, Revolver, and Yusaku’s biological parents. However.”  
  
He let one file float up, seeing Earth’s eyes widen. “That’s-“

“A memory file from Spectre.” Lightning waved his hand, the memory going over to Earth. “It appears Kogami used Spectre’s hypnotism abilities to aid in the memory wipe.”

“Then you’re saying those abilities were ones he _always_ had?” Kolter asked, walking back over. He wasn’t going to log out until they had more answers.

“Similar to Yusaku’s Link Sense, among the other abilities of the victims.” Lightning hummed. “Psychic duelists, I believe they would be called.” He pulled up two images from the network of two older duelists. “Not the first time the world’s seen it happen. Akiza Izinski and Shay Kurosaki are two notable ones, not counting the so called ‘King of Games’.”

Yusaku looked at Lightning. There had to be a reason for him to bring up Spectre’s ability being used. He didn’t think Spectre alone was behind it, or that he even played a fully willing role in the memory wipe. He would have been only six, and while Spectre still creeped him out, there was no way he knew exactly what he was doing. “Kogami coerced him into doing it?”

“Kogami didn’t work alone.” Lightning added. “In here are memories from Faust, Baira, Revolver, Spectre, yourself, and strangely Jin and Miyu as well. Which I believe means they saw you with your parents at some point during all of this due to their files being significantly smaller. Smaller than even the ones I took from Jin.”

“Okay?” Jin tilted his head. “What’s so important about who’s memories they are? I mean, if they wanted to cover their tracks with kidnapping and- I’m assuming- forcing Yusaku’s parents to work on the Lost Incident, why wouldn’t they wipe everyone’s memories of that fact?”

Yusaku narrowed his eyes. The more the fog from his mind lifted, the more Lightning’s meaning began to set in. “One, having a list helps because just forcing the memories back would be painful and may cause a mental breakdown. This way, we can talk about it to each other as the memories are returned to better cope with it.”

Jin and Takeru nodded in agreement with his words. “Two, it changes up the Lost Incident entirely. If they- if…” He took a breath. “If they weren’t willing participants, that makes them victims in this just like we were.”

He couldn’t call them his parents. _Not yet_. A tiny voice whispered in his mind.

Kolter sighed before nodding. “Yusaku has a point. If I was in there position, forced to do what they did, gods I wouldn’t be able to live with it… And I do kinda feel bad for all the hate I had against them now.”

“Don’t.” Kengo shook his head. “It’s a peculiar spot but you apologizing might make things more confusing for now.”

Yusaku hummed. “Three, and most importantly.” He paused, looking at everyone. “There’s one name missing.”

He watched as five Ignis, Kolter, Kengo, and Emma all froze. Jin blinked in confusion, looking around. “Who?” He asked.

“Earth, Windy, go and check on Earth’s Origin.” Lightning ordered, quick to take command. “Ai, move Yusaku to the private server with Roboppi. Aqua, Flame, remain with your Origins and logout _immediately_.”

Not waiting for his instructions to be followed, he forced a logout for mostly everyone. Yusaku sat up, groaning slightly as his head began to spin. “Easy.” Ai murmured, lifting him up. “You know how hard that stuff can hit you.”

Yusaku nodded, leaning on Ai. “Just log me out.” He said. “Probably safer that way.”

“Not until I’m certain your body can handle the stress. Wait a few more hours.”

He paused as a message came through, eyes glowing as he read it. “It’s from Ryoken.” He said. “Earth and Windy have reached him, but there’s something else he noticed.”

“Genome is now nowhere to be found.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEAR ME OUT.
> 
> Yusaku could totally be their child. Look at him and look at them. My first thought when I saw Clarissa (I watch the dub idk it's easier for me and Sam Black(Kolter and Roboppi) is a GIFT to Yugioh) was "oh are they gonna do something mean and have Yusaku's own mother be part of the Hanoi?"
> 
> No of course not because Konami was chicken. SO I'LL DO IT. With a twist though. And Genome is still a bad guy. He's a creep. Sorry not sorry I do not care if he's your fave you need to reevaluate your faves then.
> 
> And Ryoken taking over the POV because Yusaku was essentially drugged. Poor guy... There'll probably be more stuff in Ryoken's view because, well, Clarissa and Aso raised him since he was 8-9 years old. They're basically his parents.
> 
> And as much as I love Ryoken/Yusaku, I also love them just being brothers. So if your fave is a soft Ryo who wants to shower his brother with affection and love, you've come to the right place!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit of sad, a bit of happy, and it ends on a silly note!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes my eyesight is horrible looking at this screen… well, I’m starting on this. Let’s see if I can finish it! This chapter? Yusaku meets his birth parents while he isn’t stoned on coding.  
> Also, Ai and Roboppi have aliases. It was started between me and my girlfriend (because of a Vrains/GX au really, where Yusaku goes to Duel Academy because he heard there may be a few undercover Hanoi members there, and it turns out Ryoken, Spectre, Aso, and Clarissa are all there. And it includes a bit of Ryoken being a good big brother to Yusaku, but still not liking the Ignis, also has Yusaku’s parents being Clarissa and Aso again (and Yusaku realizing he wants to become a doctor like his mom) and a little bit of Ignis swapping! Spectre has Lightning, Jin has Earth. And Windy eventually finds a partner in Jaden.)  
> But anyway! Their aliases were made without my girlfriend knowing a few character’s names because we’re watching Vrains together and hadn’t hit the Ignis War yet. Ai’s was Akira, but I’m thinking of a new one. Roboppi’s is Miyu (and is staying Miyu). These names aren’t gonna be used with normal typing, but Yusaku does call Roboppi Miyu, Mi, and Mimi affectionately a few times. It’s just a name they use to hide that Roboppi is actually an advanced AI and not human in public. Because no Roboppi isn’t gonna go insane, they’re stable and essentially have become like an Ignis child, taking code and data from both Ai and Yusaku (and a little from Flame and Takeru from being around them so much)  
> So… basically Ai and Yusaku are parents. Though Ai is more of a mentor than a father and Yusaku is just like “I have to protect Roboppi and help them grow and how do I do that?”

Yusaku was able to come out of the network the next day, looking unimpressed at Ai and hugging Roboppi close. “Next time, _you_ stay out here with me. Don’t leave Roboppi to handle it alone.” He said firmly.

Coming back to Roboppi panicking because he hadn’t woken up when Ai said he would, wasn’t what Yusaku wanted. It took ages to calm them down. “Mi, it’s alright.” Yusaku soothed, Roboppi curled up next to him.

“The meeting at Stardust Road is in an hour, Yusaku.” Kolter said as he walked in, smiling softly when he saw Roboppi. “All of us are gonna go of course. Including Roboppi, right?”

Roboppi nodded quickly. “I was worried. Cause big bro said Yusaku was gonna wake up but he didn’t!”

Ai sulked. “I was off by two hours.” He muttered. “He still woke up.” He ran a hand through Yusaku’s hair. “Are you certain we should all go? Revolver, no doubt, will be bringing everyone as well…”

“All the more reason for all of us to go.” Kolter nodded. “The other Ignis will be there, Earth and Windy included. And Lightning’s already out there with Jin, they took Emma’s bike.”

Yusaku sat back on the bed. Everyone would be at that meeting then, all three factions save for the person who could probably give them the most answers. Ryoken said he wasn’t sure how Genome had escaped the boat, until Aso pointed out that a small lifeboat had gone missing. He was on the run, and no one knew where he was. That wasn’t what worried Yusaku the most though.

Yes, the so-called doctor was a creep. Yusaku shuddered, remembering the looks he would give him. And for once, he felt gratefulness towards those cameras in that white room. Cameras that only Clarissa- and Ryoken, he assumed- had watched. Even though she was a part of the-

 _But she wasn’t_. A voice in his head whispered. Clarissa Turner _wasn’t_ a willing participant of the Incident. They had used her like they did all six children and her husband.

 _She was- is- she is my mother._ Yusaku looked down at his hands, pale and shaking.

Was that the only reason that only looks were ever given? If he had done any worse, surely that would have broken the hypnotism somehow? Then… she would have saved them?

No, it wasn’t any of the adults Yusaku was worried about. It was Spectre, if he was being completely honest. There were so many unknown factors with him. And Yusaku hoped they would get some answers to questions he didn’t even want to voice.

“Miyu, go get ready.” Yusaku whispered. The name was an alias for Roboppi, one picked up when they had come back with the Ignis.

* * *

_“You somehow managed to create a sort of Ignis child.” Lightning had said as Yusaku reconstructed all of Roboppi’s data. He leaned against the computer monitor, Windy draped over Yusaku’s back in a sort of dinosaur-looking form, long tail curled around one arm. And Aqua sat on the desk, looking fascinated as Roboppi’s code came together._

_“Is it surprising? Ai was advancing Roboppi’s programming. But it was an unstable update, without a human factor to include.” Aqua had pointed out. “But thanks to Yusaku’s Link Sense, Roboppi will be much more stable.”_

_“And much more_ human _.” Windy said lazily. His code had still been updating itself, purging every virus and reformatting that Lightning had done to him, leaving him a bit sluggish compared to his old self. “Will she-“_

_“-they-“ Yusaku and Lightning both said._

_“-they even want that name anymore?”_

* * *

Once Roboppi was back, Yusaku had asked them. They didn’t mind their name, but voiced concerns instead. If they were going to hide in plain sight in SOLtiS bodies, a name like Roboppi would stand out. So they had chosen Miyu.

Aqua’s Origin found it adorable when she heard, always calling Roboppi by that name whenever she would come by.

Roboppi nodded, finally leaving Yusaku’s side and going with Ai to get ready. Yusaku smiled softly as they went, glad that Roboppi seemed to be okay.

“You know, it’s adorable how much you worry over Roboppi.” Kolter chuckled, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Like a worried father.”

Yusaku turned his head away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The chuckle turned into a full laugh as Kolter shook his head. “Sure kiddo. Of course you don’t.” He pat the top of Yusaku’s head. “You should get ready too, I’m just here to make sure you don’t fall.”

“Was it that bad?” Yusaku asked softly. If he needed watched again, like he had after the four months it took him to gather every piece of every Ignis…

Kolter hummed, looking at the bed. “We had to document it for Lightning. It… it wasn’t pretty.”

He had shortened the time he had left then. Yusaku sighed, bringing a hand to his chest.

 _No._ He couldn’t think that. The medicine he was finally on was buying them time, and Ai and Lightning were working effortlessly on codes and what amounted to basically medical cocktails for the remaining five Origins to try, to rebuild what was failing from the Incident.

But he swore, if another tentacle was thrust into his mouth without warning to push said medical and coded cocktail down his throat like some perverted hentai, he was going to bite it off.

There was strong hope though. Spectre was basically in the clear, and Miyu was getting close to that point too. Takeru was the next in line based on severity, due to a more healthy and exercised-filled life. And Flame never brought up any worries about the heart murmur he heard before anymore. Yusaku and Jin were still in danger, he knew they were the worst.

Lightning never showed worry over them though, not since Ai had brought the option of fixing their Origins with Ignis coding up to him. He was certain in his actions, more than he had been even with the simulations guiding his motives. Yusaku was glad he had destroyed all of those in a fit of anger. Without them, and with new data from Jin, Lightning was sane. Still calculating, still the leader of the Ignis, but more open to hearing out the others and their Origins and taking their opinions into account. Especially with Aqua back in her place as their second-in-command.

She was a voice of reason more than Yusaku had realized, and he was glad he had brought her back first. Aqua easily guided him through weaving the virus and everything out of Windy without harming him, and managed to put most of Earth back together on her own as well. Once Aqua and Windy were back, Yusaku had moved to Lightning and Earth. Then Flame, not knowing how the fire Ignis would react to a sudden wake-up after Lightning’s own had fried quite a lot of tech Yusaku had lying around.

“Ai tried something new then?” Yusaku asked, slipping on a different shirt. Pale purple in color, with a few black stars on it.

“Yeah. And don’t worry, it was given to you through an IV tube.” Kolter said. “It worked quick, your heart went to a normal rhythm soon after, so this might be one that’s on the right track.”

Yusaku nodded, pulling a jacket on over his shirt. Ai had made sure Yusaku’s wardrobe consisted of more than just two school uniforms, a dark shirt, a hoodie, and two pairs of jeans. He looked around, grabbing the headphones left on the bedside table and putting them around his neck.

In case the noise became too much.

“Ready to go?” Kolter smiled when Yusaku nodded. “Hey, whatever happens… you’re still my kid.” He said, hugging Yusaku tightly. “No one’s gonna take that from you.”

He still didn’t know how Kolter just _knew_ when he needed that reassurance.

* * *

They were the last ones to arrive. Yusaku wasn’t surprised to see there was some divide between everyone. It was how they were divided that was the surprising part.

Closer to the railing stood Akira, Clarissa, Aso, Gore, Kengo, Lightning, and Aqua. While near the usual parking spot for the truck was Takeru, Jin, Flame, Earth, Spectre, Skye, Miyu, Windy, and Ryoken.

“Guess we’re to sit at the kids’ table?” Ai joked lightly, keeping an arm wrapped around Yusaku and helping Roboppi down from the back of the truck as Kolter and Emma walked over to speak with the adults. “And here I thought Revolver was a bit too old for that. Nineteen now aren’t you?”

Ryoken looked at him silently before his gaze drifted over to Yusaku. “And if I’m here to spend time with my brother, instead of listening to them repeat the same things I already know over with the adults?” He asked with a slight smile.

Yusaku half expected himself to flinch at the words, but instead… he felt calmer at them. _Brother._ Jin called him that, though technically- on legal papers anyway- Jin would be his uncle. And Takeru called them both brothers. But Clarissa and Aso had adopted Ryoken after his father’s illness, along with Spectre when Ryoken had led him home.

He actually had two brothers. One of them being the person who gave him the hope to get through the Incident.

Next to him, Ai sighed. “Ah, that’s right. On paper you are Ryoken Kogami-Turner aren’t you? And Spectre is-“

“None of your concern.” Spectre said smoothly from his spot next to Ryoken. To an outsider, he looked as if nothing was wrong, the most collected out of all of them.

But none of them were outsiders, and Spectre’s eyes betrayed his tiredness. Like he hadn’t slept at all last night. Yusaku looked at Earth, who shook his head slightly. So Spectre wasn’t doing alright.

“What was in the files we gave you, Ignis?” Ryoken asked.

“Back to that? Aww, did your stay with Earth and Windy not be enjoyable?” Ai smirked lightly.

“Ai. What was on the files?” Skye looked at him, not amused with his antics.

The Ignis sighed, guiding Roboppi to sit with Yusaku. “What we expected to be there. Memory files. From five people.” He explained. “Yusaku and Ryoken, Clarissa and Aso, and Spectre.”

Skye stiffened at that, Miyu grabbing her hand. “…Hypnotism.” She murmured.

“ _Unwilling_ participation.” Yusaku said, looking from Skye to Spectre.

Seeing the hope and gratitude in Spectre’s eyes was a new one for him. He seemed to relax more too as Earth put a hand on his back. “Yes. I have- there’s memories missing. I never thought about it. I-I just assumed-“

“They were gone because of the electrocution?” Miyu guessed, smiling softly at the other Origin. “Fair. There’s a lot of fog in my head around the Incident. The therapist thinks because I tried to repress it while I was comatose.”

“But it doesn’t feel like fog?” Jin asked him. “It feels like you’re missing something you should have?”

“Like it was forced out in a bad way.” Spectre relaxed more as he looked at Jin and Miyu. “ _Yes_.”

Takeru smiled as the three began to talk. Skye and Earth listening intently to them. “Well at least they’re getting along.” He said. “Was that all that was in there?”

Ai nodded. “Yes. And Skye is correct when she said hypnotism. We think that Kogami and Genome preyed on how he wanted to find a purpose in life, and probably told little six-year-old Spectre that he would be very good if he helped them steal their memories.”

Ryoken sighed softly as Yusaku looked at him. “I… wouldn’t put it past my father to do that, yes.” He admitted softly. “I should have noticed. Genome said a few things that seemed very wrong, even to my younger self. I was determined to keep Spectre separate from him.”

“Good.” Ai agreed. “So, did you run any other tests?”

“Of course.” Ryoken nodded, holding out a few folded up papers to Ai and Yusaku. “It’s exactly as you said. They’re a match to Yusaku completely.”

Yusaku looked at the papers, having confirmation from more than one source made it all the more real. He wasn’t sure how to handle that, and settled for just hugging Roboppi when they moved closer to him.

“And let me reassure you both, Clarissa and Aso decided last night that no custody battle or anything is going to happen.” Ryoken added. _That_ made tension Yusaku didn’t know he was holding on to melt away. “As far as the public knows, they’re still just cyber terrorists who were high ranking officials in the Knights of Hanoi. No one knows of their involvement in the Incident. And it’s staying that way.”

The only documented reports of the Incident ever happening were hidden away, locked behind enough Ignis code and firewalls from both the Knights and Yusaku and Kolter that even the best hackers couldn’t get close without having all of their data erased. Akira had willingly handed over everything SOL had on it, and let Aqua and Flame wipe every trace of it from their networks.

But things could only stay silent for so long, especially since one of the scientists had gone rogue. It was something Yusaku thought of on the way to the meeting.

“For how long?” He asked out loud, catching the others’ attention. “How long will no one know? Everyone knows about the Ignis now, multiple governments are trying to get their hands on them.”

“Which is why Lightning is speaking with a few people we will be safe do not worry Yusaku there’s ways around human governments like one glaring detail that Seto Kaiba seems to have exploited to the extreme with his Academy why it’s practically its own nation so maybe we can work off of that an-“

“We’re already working on a solution that can work to protect the entire group.” Ryoken interrupted Windy’s long rant. “Sometimes I wonder if putting a breathing program into you would be beneficial to everyone… but international waters are what have kept us safe for so long. And with past events causing drastic changes to the world as a whole, finding an uninhabited island outside of every country shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Then, as Windy pointed out, we could take a route similar to Kaiba’s. Including even opening our own school as a cover.” Ryoken suggested.

Miyu looked over at him. “Let me get this straight, judging by what you’re saying. You’re basically going to take a bunch of kids and some adults. Hide them on an island. Using the premise of _building a new duel school_ as a cover? Then what? Once we’re all there, tell the world about the Incident?”

“Would you rather it get out from Genome while we’re still in Japan?” Spectre questioned. “While five of us would be protected under the Psychic Dueling clause brought on the year before the Incident, the rest would not be protected and could face major global government issues.”

“Glad to see we came to the same conclusion on one thing.” Lightning said as he walked over. “Spectre is correct. All five Lost Children are protected under those laws brought on by the famous Turbo Duel team 5Ds and their senator sponsor. We have documents written up about it.”

Miyu snorted, sitting back in her seat. “Well if you figure out what makes me a psychic duelist, feel free to fill me in!”

“Me too.” Jin looked confused at his Ignis. “Spectre and Yusaku I understand, with Hypnotism and Link Sense. But I haven’t really done anything special. I can’t even summon duel spirits _in_ a duel.”

Yusaku tilted his head, looking at Jin, Miyu, and Takeru. Takeru’s was easiest to figure out, something fire-based to give him his skill in speed duels, and the burning draw Soulburner managed against Revolver. Though he had to admit, it was harder to pinpoint anything that could say that Jin and Miyu were psychic duelists.

And he didn’t really care too much for that name either. He wasn’t a duelist. Yusaku hadn’t touched his deck once since getting Ai back. It wasn’t as if he needed to, their home was outfitted with upgraded Solid Vision, their monsters could visit if they wished. Most seemed happy in the newly rebuilt Cyberse though.

What could Jin and Miyu have? Would Miyu’s ability be like Aqua’s lie detection? Jin’s be light based?

He didn’t know. But just sitting around was starting to get to him. The others (the _adult’s table_ gods, he’s spent too much time with Ai if that was actually amusing to him) were talking too low for them to hear and Lightning didn’t seem to be giving them any information.

Was that what all those shows and movies Ai made him sit through were talking about? All those Christmas movies with two separate tables? Adults talking about things in secret away from the kids. Even though everyone except Roboppi couldn’t really be considered a younger child. Yusaku wanted to do something. _Anything_. As Miyu and Jin started their own conversation on what abilities they could have, with Windy and Flame giving input. Spectre and Takeru seemed to be talking to each other, and Ryoken was talking with Ai and Lightning.

“I’m bored!” Roboppi finally complained, loud enough for even the adults to look over. “I thought we were here to talk about Yusaku and his mom and dad. Auntie Miyu can breathe underwater and uncle Jin can control electrical currents.” They huffed, crossing their arms. “This is all boring stuff!”

“I can?” Miyu and Jin both asked, looking at each other.

Skye was quick to grab her girlfriend’s arm as Akira shook his head. “Don’t even _think_ it Miyu!” Akria warned.

“But the ocean’s _right there_! And we have two doctors on site!” Miyu complained. “You can’t just let Mimi say that and _not_ have me test it!”

“Does that mean I’m a jellyfish? Or an eel?” Jin wondered.

Lightning groaned, shaking his head. “Roboppi. If I find you a puzzle to work on, will that suffice? We still have work to do.”

Roboppi nodded happily, grinning when Lightning handed them a tablet.

“Well with the crisis of a bored Roboppi averted… Yusaku? Can you come here?” Kolter asked him.

Yusaku nodded, passing Roboppi over to Takeru, who took them happily. “My favorite… umm, what’s a gender-neutral niece and nephew?” He whispered. “Niephew?”

Yusaku took that as his cue to hurry over to Kolter, leaving the table to break down into an argument over Takeru’s question while Roboppi ignored it all in favor of the puzzle Lightning gave them. It was odd to him, having both sets of parents _right there_ talking with each other. About him, he assumed. “What is it?”

“Every test run by everyone is saying what we already knew.” Kolter told him as Ai and Ryoken walked over. “Clarissa and Aso are your birth parents.”

The more it was said, the more the fact became the truth for Yusaku. He had panicked at first, but now he just felt calm about it. With a touch of curiosity.

What would their memories hold? What sort of family were they before? He had wondered for years what his parents were like… and now they were right in front of him. Both looking worried and hesitant about everything, and it was making Yusaku hesitant too.

“I… I see.” He nodded.

“We just wanted to talk about what that means going forward.” Emma smiled soothingly. “Nothing bad is happening.”

“The first thing is everyone’s memories. Lightning’s going to release them back to you slowly, so no one is overwhelmed by having roughly 600 gigabytes of data suddenly reappear in your mind.” She explained. “We’re leaving him in charge of that.”

“Second, custody.” Kolter continued. “You’re seventeen, almost eighteen, but like your therapist said, you’ll still be in our custody for a few years after that just to be safe. And that isn’t changing.”

Ai looked over at the two Knights. “You’re alright with this? Ryoken said you were.”

Clarissa nodded in agreement. “A drastic change like that wouldn’t be good for Yusaku. And, well, we are still technically criminals. Even if Akira got plea deals for us in exchange for the Knights running Vrains security. Even if we wanted to, no judge would rule in our favor.”

“But, it would be good for you to get to know your parents. And for them to get to know you.” Kolter smiled at Yusaku. “However, it is up to you. I’m not making this decision for you. If you do decide to do it, it won’t be alone at first. We’ll all be together for the first few times.”

Yusaku nodded. That didn’t sound too bad to him. He did want to get to know his parents more. Ai was a comforting presence next to him, wrapping one arm around Yusaku’s waist. It was still a lot to take in, but having everything laid out so simply was helping.

“I guess we can start with saying that I’ll be your son-in-law next year?” Ai joked. “Gonna need to change up a few things with the wedding.”

“Third thing, and this involves Ryoken, but we’re going to Ryoken’s house.” Aso said before Ai could start rambling on with new wedding plans. “We have good reason to believe that Kogami may have hidden a few material things there.”

Yusaku looked at Ryoken when he hummed softly. “You mean hidden away in the basement?”

“Well, what better way to continue hurting people?” Ai realized, tightening his hold on Yusaku’s waist.

Of course, Yusaku thought. _Who else would go through stuff down there with Ryoken?_ Their parents.

Ryoken closed his eyes for a moment. “Alright then.” He said. “Why not. Let’s all go. Who knows what’s down there, I haven’t gone in the basement at all.”

Aso put a hand on his shoulder. “We don’t have to all go if you don’t want to, Ryoken.” He soothed. “I know it’s still a rough subject for you.”

Yusaku watched them, hardly noticing when Kolter put a hand on his back, rubbing it soothingly. It was… odd, he decided. Seeing how caring his biological father was with his brother.

 _His brother_. Actually calling Ryoken that, Yusaku couldn’t hide a soft smile.

He jumped slightly when Ryoken chuckled. “What are you thinking about that has you smiling?” Ryoken smiled at him. “I’m certain that we all should go. It’ll take a small army to get through everything I’m sure.”

“What are you expecting to find down there, exactly?” Ai questioned.

“If we’re right?” Kolter grinned. “Well, Jin will have infinite ammo against Yusaku. Who decided that baby pictures are the most hilarious thing on this planet.”

Yusaku paled slightly. By material things…

His parents had all meant stuff from before the Incident.

Including baby things of his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is curious about the timeline of YGO events I'm using, I do have it written down, it's just a bit long. I'll just say that where I have it now, Vrains happens 16 years after Jaden graduates from Duel Academy, and Arc V doesn't happen in the way it was intended to. I basically condensed the entire timeline into 1 dimension and over about a 30 year timespan from Yugi solving the Puzzle to Yusaku getting Ai back.
> 
> And no one's dead.
> 
> Except Yusaku. He may die of embarrassment. 
> 
> BUT ANYWAY this chapter had happy, it had sad, it had silly, which is what I wanted. There is some serious notes to this, but for the most part it's just gonna be Yusaku learning more about his family and his family learning more about him.  
> And Yusaku realizing the power of being the youngest of 5 brothers. Since Jin and Takeru count themselves as his brothers too. Even though Yusaku is only younger than Jin by like 9 weeks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amazingly, no one has burned down the Kogami mansion.
> 
> Yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yusaku’s sanity is gonna die before he can. And I’m making fun of myself with how many times I’ve had characters confirm that yes, Clarissa and Aso are Yusaku’s parents.
> 
> I’m on a roll with this fic, even if it seems to have killed the Yusaku tag… whoops. Well I'm gonna ride this lack of depression streak til I can't no more so other things might be getting updated soon too!

“Hey Yusaku?”

Yusaku looked warily at Takeru as they walked up to the Kogami mansion. “What.” It wasn’t a question. He knew what was coming.

“I think Clarissa Turner and Aso might be your parents.”

Yusaku stopped walking, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “No shit, Sherlock. What could have given you that idea?” He asked sarcastically as Miyu and Jin broke down into a fit of giggles, Flame almost walking right into him and looking at them quizzically. “If _one more person_ feels the need to point out the obvious, I will pitch myself into the ocean.”

“You can’t swim.” Takeru pointed out.

“That’s the point.”

Hearing it the first few times made it sink in. The few times after that made him get used to it.

The times after that? Yusaku was going to start pointing out family similarities between everyone else that were insanely obvious. Like Skye and Akira having the same nose, or Jin and Kolter having the exact same hair color.

Or he’ll point out Takeru’s embarrassing confession to Flame that happened right in the middle of class before Yusaku had dropped out. He was annoyed, but not heartless. Takeru’s parents were off-limits and Yusaku was _never_ going to cross that line. He wouldn’t even think of it, none of them would.

“But seriously. Looking at you and Baira? Yeah, kinda hard to miss.” Takeru said as Yusaku continued walking. “You sure you should be walking all this way?” He asked softly.

“If I get asked _that_ one more time, I’m running the rest of the way there out of spite.” Yusaku retorted. “I feel _fine_ , Takeru.”

“Yusaku, you should take it easy. Rest once we’re there and let someone help you up the stairs.”

Yusaku wondered if it was too late to regret having brothers. It was bad enough having Takeru bugging him and fretting over him. But then Ryoken just had to join in. “Like you’re one to talk. You can lecture me _if_ you make it up the stairs without having to stop at the top to catch your breath.”

“Seriously, you’re _both_ out of shape.” Skye sighed in frustration. “Boys. Stop bickering. It’s sadder than Simba versus Scar.”

“What’s sad about that?” Takeru asked.

“A lion raised on eating bugs and a lion going through a famine fighting each other?” Skye pointed out. “It’s literally if Yusaku and Ryoken fought outside of Vrains. Revolver has muscle mass-“

“Revolver’s hot Skye just admit it.” Miyu grinned.

Skye looked at her girlfriend with a sigh. “And Playmaker has lithe muscles. But you two?”

She handed her duel disk to Aqua and walked over to Yusaku. “If you’re all worried about Yusaku, I’ll solve the problem.”

“Skye? What are you doing?” Yusaku took a step back as she walked closer. “Skye…”

Kolter looked back when he heard a loud squeak, stopping when he saw just what the squeak was about and grabbing Emma’s hand to stop her as well.

Skye, looking completely unamused, was bridal carrying Yusaku, who looked torn between embarrassment and horror. “Well? Let’s get moving.” She said, walking past the adults.

“Emma?” Kolter looked at his girlfriend. “Has Skye always been able to carry Yusaku?”

Emma and Akira both looked as stunned as Kolter felt, both shrugging. Gore simply smirked, following Skye to the stairs. “After her duel against Spectre, and before SOLtech got to me, she wanted a productive way to spend her time. I offered her the gym and the training to defend herself if things ever got taken to the real world.” He said smugly, proud of her progress.

“Come on! And no one’s allowed to help Ryoken!”

* * *

Yusaku struggled out of Skye’s grip the second they were up the stairs. Yes, he was glad, deep down, that he didn’t have to walk up all the stairs. But it was also embarrassing. “You know I didn’t need carried.” He muttered.

“I know.” Skye smirked at him. “I just wanted to prove a point.”

_You’re an ass._ He signed, ignoring her laughter at that as the others made it up the stairs as well.

“Alright, we’re all here.” Kolter said as Jin whined next to him.

“How can you stand all those stairs?” He complained, sitting down on the top step and panting slightly. “Next time Skye can carry me instead of Yusaku. I don’t want to move from this spot!”

Lightning sighed in frustration, lifting up his Origin and throwing him over his shoulder. “Let’s get this over with.” He muttered.

“No burning down the house.” Kolter warned.

“If I wanted this place burned down I would’ve done it three years ago with the bastard still in it.” Lightning retorted.

Ryoken brushed past all of them. If the walk up the stairs had affected him, he didn’t show it as he pulled out the keys to the mansion. “You can look around all you want, there’s nothing here really.” He said to the group. “Everything we wanted is on the boat now. But do not go into the first room on the second floor on the left.” He added.

“VR headsets are stored there.” He explained at the curious looks the others gave him. “Along with older styled duel disks. And possibly simulations that weren’t destroyed in Yusaku’s outburst a few months ago. So it’s best we leave that alone.”

He looked at Lightning and Ai as he said it, and Yusaku moved closer to Ai’s side.

Yusaku had destroyed every single stored simulation the second he had found them. Screaming in hate and anger. At Kogami, at Lightning, at whatever Gods would listen. Every screen shattered, every hard drive left ruined, he refused to leave anything. If he was to bring the Ignis back, he had to make sure that history wouldn’t repeat itself.

He hadn’t looked at a single one.

And Yusaku would make sure Ai didn’t look at any that could’ve been left either.

Ryoken unlocked the door, and promptly sneezed.

“I warned you there would be dust, Master Ryoken.” Spectre said, slipping past him easily with a slight smirk, Earth following him. “Allow us to at least clear the hallway to the basement. The electricity is still hooked up to the solar panels, go open the kitchen windows and turn on the ceiling fan to help clear the air.”

“Alright Spectre.” Ryoken sighed. “Go on everyone. Who knows, we might find something useful in here to track down Genome with too.”

He headed for the kitchen, Yusaku and Ai following him. “Are you alright being here?” Ryoken asked Yusaku softly, hesitating for a moment before bringing a hand up to fix the headphones around Yusaku’s neck. “They’re crooked…”

“I’m alright.” Yusaku murmured lightly, looking at Ryoken. The last time he had been in the mansion was at Kogami’s death, his duel against Ryoken to stop the Tower…

Only for Ryoken, for his family really, to run off on a boat. The more Yusaku thought about it, the more anticlimactic it felt.

They stared at each other for a moment, unsure, until Emma and Clarissa came in. “I told you they’d be doing this.” Emma giggled, walking over to the windows to unlock and open them. “Yusaku’s like a kitten really, you have to introduce him to new things slowly or he’ll spend all his time staring at whoever’s closest.”

“I do not.” Yusaku protested.

Clarissa smiled, turning on the ceiling fans. “Ryoken can be much the same. When he first brought Spectre home, he wasn’t certain if he wanted to act like a friend or an older brother. Spectre made the choice for him and called Ryoken his partner at first after hearing Aso say he and I were ‘partners in crime’.”

“We were not that bad.” Ryoken added.

Yusaku looked at his mothers, tilting his head. “Where are Kolter and…” He hesitated. Did he call Aso by his name? Dad? Father?

“Just call us by our names for now, Yusaku.” Clarissa smiled softly at him. “Take your time with all of this. But Aso and Kolter are helping Spectre and Earth in case there are any traps on the door to the basement or if it’s blocked and needs forced open. Of course I’m certain Earth could handle both cases, but best to just let them be the tough, strong men in the group.” She laughed lightly.

“Everyone else has scattered around.” Emma added. “Aqua wanted to see the greenhouse so Miyu and Skye went with her. Lightning is with Jin and Windy in the living room, giving Jin a chance to recover from the stairs. Akira and Gore are making sure Takeru and Flame don’t light anything on fire. And Roboppi is looking around as well.”

“I found something actually!” Roboppi chirped from next to Emma, making the woman jump slightly. “A picture!”

They held up the picture frame. “See? I think it was in Ryo’s room and the picture that was in here was crooked, there was a picture behind it! I think the first picture is his mom, but look!”

Ai leaned in looking at the picture and humming softly. “Well, looks like the truth was hidden in plain sight all along.” He said. “Ryoken? Did you ever mess with that first picture?”

“Never.” Ryoken shook his head, taking the picture of his mother when Roboppi held it out to him. “It was the only picture I had of her. I planned on coming back here for some things we left later, and I already had one on the ship that I found so I kept this one here.” He explained.

The picture left in the frame caught Yusaku’s attention quickly. Two women sat side by side on a couch, one being Clarissa, and the other Yusaku assumed was Ryoken’s mother. On the floor in front of them were two children, they couldn’t have been more than two years old, playing with blocks.

“Saku as a baby was so cute!” Roboppi giggled. “And Ryo too!”

“This picture…” Clarissa whispered, carefully taking the picture frame and looking at it. “I know Haruka and I were friends… Genome and Doctor Kogami truly made us forget all of this.”

“But I can remember around that time. It’s when she began to fall ill. I-I can remember watching Ryoken.” She hummed softly. “If I can remember certain days, perhaps those were days that Aso took Yusaku with him to work? Because Haruka would bring in Ryoken from time to time, so it was safe for children to be around…” She paused, trying to remember what it was they were working on.

Ai tilted his head, eyes going dim for a moment as he checked the network. “You were working on a prototype to the Ignis Project.” He revealed. “AI without free will, just a simple pet project, literally. Cats, dogs, birds, I believe some of this code was trying to mimic the behavior of a ball python? Or perhaps of a hognose snake. It’s the code we used for some of our alternate forms. You were using Solid Vision at that point.”

“Right… but this is making me question _how_ they were able to alter our memories. I mean, I can remember watching Ryoken when he was younger. And this picture means that Ryoken and Yusaku were raised _together_.” Clarissa pointed out.

Yusaku nodded slowly. “So not only were our memories taken, but _fake_ memories were put in their place.” He said. “I remember meeting Ryoken when I was six, just before the Lost Incident. We ran into each other, literally. And he took me with him because I had a cut on my hand from falling, we were going to fix it then duel each other.”

“Yes.” Ryoken nodded in agreement. “And he was going to call his parents to tell them where he was at.”

Yusaku looked back at the picture. There was no denying that it was him and Ryoken who were playing with the blocks. “That’s probably what they needed Spectre’s assistance with.” He admitted. “To implant false memories into our minds that would be convincing enough to be real. No one would question two children meeting like we did, it happens all the time.”

Emma nodded. “It would also add on another layer of guilt to keep Ryoken in line.” She realized. “By making it seem as if it was his fault Yusaku was kidnapped. But I’m willing to bet, Yusaku was meant to be either the first or second child taken, not the sixth. With Ryoken as well.”

“What stopped that plan?” Ryoken wondered.

“Aso and myself, probably.” Clarissa told him. “I regret being a part of the Incident.”

“You were forced into it though.” Emma said soothingly, and Yusaku felt a twinge of happiness, seeing his mothers getting along so well already.

“We probably tried to stop it.” Clarissa admitted softly. “That was probably why they targeted us.”

“That, and Ysuaku’s Link Sense making him a prime target.” Ai added. “You were a threat, and I’m willing to bet that some of those memory files will be of strange things happening around Yusaku when he was younger. So in order to get their hands on Yusaku, they made everyone forget everything around him, and planted the thought in Yusaku’s head that he had different parents, and that he ran into Ryoken one day by chance.”

“There was an unknown factor that they couldn’t think of though.” He continued. “Link Sense. In a way, Yusaku had already linked himself to Ryoken. You can see the connection in Vrains, if you put in a program that allows you to see connections or have that ability naturally like us Ignis do. That’s why we never fully attacked Revolver, he was connected to Yusaku, and we didn’t know what that would do if we severed it.”

Yusaku blinked in surprise. He didn’t know he was connected to Ryoken. “Explain, Ai.”

“It’s nothing huge.” Ai said. “But that three reasons thing Ryoken taught you? He said it to all the Origins. You were the only one it stuck with though because he was subconsciously pushing the pattern into you through that connection. It only worked because he was speaking to you through a speaker though, and into the headset you wore. It needs technology to work at all. So if he were to try it again, face to face, you wouldn’t be affected by the repetitiveness of it like you were before.”

“However, there’s no way it could’ve worked had you two only met on that day. That’s what we found weird about the connection. You don’t have that connection with Takeru or Skye. Or even with Kolter, though a connection is starting to develop between you two now. But even us Ignis don’t know what it does _exactly_. It’s not as straightforward as hypnotism.”

“Or breathing underwater or controlling electromagnetic stuff!” Roboppi smiled. “But I bet the Link Sense just connects Yusaku to technology like we are!”

“How can he connect to humans with it though?” Ryoken wondered, voicing the same thought Yusaku had. “And if all of the children had abilities, do you think-“

“We got the door open!” Kolter called from the hallway. “Bring flashlights, or just Lightning!”

Emma shook her head. “We can speculate what all that means later. For now, let’s meet up with the others in the basement. And see if Lightning can give you four the memories around that picture.

* * *

He could give them the memories around the picture, and Lightning did just that. It was enough to leave Yusaku breathless for a few moments.

He could _remember_ that day, at least the feeling of it. It was still blurry, from how young he had been. Yusaku had been two, Ryoken almost four then. But the feelings of happiness as they played with the blocks, the laughter, the warmth…

Yusaku shivered, feeling cold in comparison. Something Ai picked up on quickly. He felt Ai’s arms wrap around him, a kiss pressed to the back of his neck.

“I’m here.” He whispered.

“I know.” Yusaku replied, taking one of Ai’s hands in his own as they walked down the stairs.

“So, ready for embarrassing baby photos?” Ai asked, trying to lighten the mood as Yusaku came to terms with the new memory.

No one was certain where to start looking, with so many boxes in the basement. Until Spectre sighed and decided for them, taking control easily and instructing everyone on where to start.

Yusaku walked over to him, looking at the other Origin. “You’re pretty calm about this.” He said.

“Someone has to be.” Spectre replied, opening the first box and frowning. “Honestly, letting this silverware stay down here to rust… it’s a waste.”

Yusaku hummed, not knowing how to reply to that. They hadn’t interacted much once the Ignis had returned, Spectre developing only a tentative friendship with his Ignis and only ever interacting with Yusaku directly if ordering at the café truck. He could feel Earth watching them, waiting to see how things went.

“Was there anything you needed?” Spectre asked. “I figured you’d search through things with Ryoken or your fiancé.”

“I can do things without them.” Yusaku said, trying to lift up the box underneath the one that Spectre had moved, stopping when he realized it was too heavy. “…most of the time.”

Spectre chuckled. “I’ll admit, I do not mind this.” He said, picking up the box and setting it on top of the one filled with silverware so they could look through it. “I suppose you have questions as well?”

“What are they like?”

“Clarissa and Aso?” Spectre hummed, looking over at them. Clarissa was speaking to Kolter about something as they looked through a few boxes, Aso bringing over more as Emma helped Skye and Akira. “Mother is very kind, but she is also a doctor and it shows. If Ryoken or I were ill, she wouldn’t hesitate to be stern about us resting. But she has a lovely singing voice as well.”

“She does?” Yusaku asked. “And you call her mother?”

Spectre nodded, opening the box. “She was the first human beyond Ryoken to show me any kindness. Mother was the one to convince Doctor Kogami to allow us to start a greenhouse for me. And honestly, she was the one most hesitant to go after the Ignis. Even I held less reservation about it than she did.”

Yusaku thought that had been the case. Against Blue Angel, it seemed like she had been holding back, like she wanted to lose. And he thought of his own duel against Faust…

“What about Aso?” He asked softly.

“Father isn’t as standoffish as his Vrains avatar may make him seem.” Spectre smiled softly, holding up a photograph for Yusaku to take.

It was just one of Yusaku and Ryoken, looking a bit older, Yusaku guessed Ryoken had to be about six or seven. There was a dog with them, some sort of Shepherd puppy, trying to lick Ryoken’s face as Yusaku laughed.

“He was always open to helping Ryoken and I with our schoolwork, he homeschooled us. And if we had any issues, we knew we could come to him about them. He was the one to find out about our relationship first and give us the talk.” Spectre said with a shrug. “I had some issues at first from the electrocution, and he would be the one to sit up all night with me if the pain kept me awake.”

Yusaku felt a pang of sadness at that, and some envy. No one had done that for him, not until he had teamed up with Kolter. But once he had, Kolter would stay up all night if Yusaku needed. The medicine the doctors had prescribed was too expensive for Yusaku, but Kolter always found other ways to help with the pain. Different oils, cannabis, heating pads, Yusaku found they all worked well.

“He wrote down everything last night.” Spectre looked at Yusaku. “He tried to remember everything from the time you were born to the time the Incident began. I saw him writing down everything he could remember. And I won’t tell anyone else but you, but he actually cried when he realized he couldn’t remember anything about you.” He said softly. “To me… he’s the best father anyone could ask for. Perhaps he could have been stricter, maybe things would have played out differently, but he had a fine line to walk with Ryoken.”

“Ryoken was so caught up with his biological father, Aso had to be careful, a step too far would have driven Ryoken even further than he already was. He had a lot more freedom with me, though I still followed Ryoken more than I did his words and teachings.” Spectre chuckled.

Yusaku listened to every word Spectre told him, looking back over at their parents. It looked as if they had found something important, all four gathered back up again. He wanted to get to know them, he realized suddenly. Would Clarissa still sing, even with all three of them older now? Would Aso help him with schoolwork if he asked? They were both doctors… could Yusaku ask them about that?

“What about you?” He asked Spectre. “You’re just as much a victim in this… are you okay?”

Spectre sighed. “Honestly, I’m fine.” He said. “I know of my abilities, and what I can do with them. It does not surprise me that I was coerced into using them like that. I never did trust Kogami, no matter how close I am to Ryoken. He hated me, I’m sure. I was Ryoken’s one weakness that he got to keep, since he had no grip on you.”

“He feared me as well. Because he knew my powers and my, according to the therapist, ‘sheer uncaring attitude towards human life’. After all, I did convince that therapist to stab herself in the thigh with a pen.” Spectre revealed calmly. “Almost as if the Light Ignis should have been mine, isn’t it? We’re fairly similar. While Earth is quite and calm like Jin seems to be.”

“You…” Yusaku looked at Spectre. “I don’t see how I can be surprised at that.”

“You shouldn’t be.” Spectre nodded. “I do not feel remorse for it. She was a complete bitch. I do admit that I could fit a textbook definition of sociopath. Do I care? Not really. That’s what happens when a whore leaves a newborn with a tree spirit.”

Yusaku raised an eyebrow. “Really no lost love between you and your birth mother is there.” He stated, not questioning Spectre on that one.

“Considering we found who she was, and the title fits the profession of choice for her.” Spectre rolled his eyes. “I have no birth mother, nor father. I have a found family and my Mother Tree. It’s Clarissa and Aso’s names on my birth certificate now.” He looked into the box, eyes lighting up at what he found. “Oh speaking of birth certificates…”

“What?” Yusaku tried to look at the frame Spectre had picked up, the taller smirking and holding it up higher. “Spectre, what is it?”

“Birth date, July 18. You’re a summer child.” Spectre said, standing up as Yusaku jumped up, trying to grab the frame. “Two in the morning, why you were a night owl even at birth!”

“Spectre!”

The commotion seemed to attract everyone’s attention, Ai raising an eyebrow as he saw Spectre holding the frame up even higher, tilting it so he could still read the paper inside.

“Born to Aso and Clarissa… Turner-Fujiki?” Spectre looked over at them with a grin.

“Spectre, stop teasing Yusaku.” Aso ordered. “What did you find?”

“Aso’s last name is Fujiki?” Ryoken asked at the same time, looking over at him.

“Yusaku’s birth certificate.” Spectre told him. “And how Western of you two, ready to hear your full name, Yusaku?”

Clarissa grabbed the frame before Spectre could even speak, leaving him there pouting slightly. “Spectre, leave your brother alone.” She said, smirking lightly herself as that made him pause, eyes wide with shock. “Do you want us to say it, Yusaku? Or do you want to know first?”

Yusaku sighed. “Spectre got everyone’s attention with it, might as well say it out loud.”

Clarissa smiled at him. “Well, let’s start with this. Of course Yusaku’s name is structured in a more Western style, Spectre. This birth certificate is from over in the States. Yusaku has dual citizenship.”

“We found the documents for that.” Aso added as Yusaku looked over at them in surprise. “Clarissa is from Utah, we all have dual citizenship, we just stayed in Japan to raise Ryoken and Spectre here.”

“That’s gonna be a lot of holidays to celebrate now.” Kolter murmured, getting an amused laugh from Emma.

“So, Yusaku’s full legal name is Yusaku Haruka Turner-Fujiki.” Clarissa announced.

“Haruka?” Yusaku and Ryoken both asked. “Wait, he’s named after my mother?” Ryoken looked shocked.

Clarissa nodded, looking at the papers with the birth certificate. “After your mother, who was his godmother too. And… I’m your godmother according to this.” She said, reading through both papers. “I always said if I ever had a child after her death, I would name them in honor of her, looks like I beat myself to that…” She paused, finding a picture behind all of the documents.

“I think we should give the family some time to let this all sink in.” Aqua murmured softly, herding the others back up the stairs and looking over at Earth, saying something quickly in the Ignis’s language and dragging Windy up with them.

Ai stayed downstairs, walking over to Yusaku with Roboppi. Yusaku felt slightly concerned, seeing Clarissa begin to tear up as she looked at the photo.

“I… I don’t remember this at all…” She admitted, voice quivering as Aso wrapped an arm around her waist and looked at the picture as well. “I don’t remember being pregnant, or any firsts… we’re missing so much, we missed so much…”

She sobbed lightly, not protesting as Aso hugged her tightly, passing the photo over to Emma.

Emma smiled sadly, letting Yusaku see the photo when he looked over to her. It was the day of his birth. Clarissa smiling, happy yet tired, holding a bundled up Yusaku in her arms. Aso sitting next to her proudly on the bed, eyes glued to his wife and their son.

His feet moved before he could even think about it, Yusaku walking over to Clarissa and Aso and hugging his parents without a word. He felt his own tears building up as Clarissa hugged him tightly, Aso rubbing his back. He couldn’t hold back a sob when Clarissa kissed the top of his head.

They had lost so much, and made the burning hatred he had for the Incident return stronger than ever before. Kogami had taken everything from them, forced his parents to torture him and five other children, made them forget everything. It was his fault, and Genome’s, that he had grown up without his family. Every night he spent, wondering if he had a family looking for him, if it was his fault he had no one there after he was rescued. It _hurt_ , leaving him shaking in his mother’s arms as the three of them cried.

“We have time now.” Aso murmured softly. “There’s time now.”

Yusaku nodded quickly. There was time to get their memories back, to be a family again. And he wanted that, more than anything, he wanted his family. All of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Started with happy, ended with some sad. I totally support Skye being the strongest Ignis Partner (since she isn't an Origin but was partnered with an Ignis, I'm calling anyone like that a Partner so Skye, Kolter technically since he and Ai worked a lot together, Gore technically falls under that category, Ryoken, even Echo counts) and her being able to lift Yusaku. Because he's scrawny and has probably never done much exercising.
> 
> And I totally didn't forget that Pandor exists no not at all she's back on the boat.... oh god I am so sorry Pandor you're gonna have more screentime here I promise.
> 
> Speaking of screentime! Spectre. Has actually a lot more screentime coming up, mostly thanks to a comment! I did have plans for him but finding out that someone else wants to see more of him too made me want to give him more of an active role here!
> 
> So leave a comment if you want to see more of this! Or if you want to maybe see something added in? Want to see interactions with other characters? Want Ai to actually be able to talk about wedding plans? Comments always make me smile like an idiot okay I am as easy to please as a puppy even if you just say that you liked this chapter.


End file.
